Etc.

December 5, 2007

Life at the top: familiar perch for UCLA's basketball teams

Although the men's basketball team at UCLA fell to the University of Florida last spring in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship game, the Bruins still hold a commanding lead when it comes to the all-time record number of weeks ranked No. 1. Since 1964, the year of its first national title, the UCLA program has been top-ranked in the benchmark Associated Press poll for a total of 134 weeks. Most of those came under legendary head coach John Wooden between '64 and 1975. North Carolina, currently ranked No. 1, could chip away at UCLA and runner-up Duke University by the time the long 2007-08 season ends next April, however. To date, the Tar Heel program has spent 89 weeks atop the all-time charts. The programs that have led the pack as No. 1, and the total number of weeks over the years: